[Zope3-dev] Re: Deploying WSGI Apps with Zope 3.2+
cstrong at arielpartners.com
cstrong at arielpartners.com
Mon Jan 30 16:44:28 EST 2006
>> I remember that Jim once presented two XML samples and asked which one
>> was more readable. I preferred many elements over many attributes. He
>> preferred the opposite. I thought he was crazy, and as I recall, he
>> thought I was crazy, too. :-)
Elements vs Attributes is an age old debate. Some points:
- Attributes are not extensible. When you later realize that your
param="foo" attribute does not provide enough power and you need
<param type="dynamic">$foo</param> you have no choice but to refactor.
This has happened to me countless times...
- XML attributes are not ordered. However, you can prescribe a specific
*element* ordering in an XMLSchema or RelaxNG schema.
- Attributes don't provide the flexibility you need for potentially long
human readable text strings.
- Dozens of child elements pretty print much more nicely than dozens of
attributes. Pretty printing is *essential* for human readability, IMHO.
hth,
--Craeg
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